Financial Aspects of Divorce

If you are in the process of divorce then almost certainly you will have some concerns about the way in which the financial issues arising from your marriage breakdown will be determined.

We can help you with all aspects, ranging from straightforward matters such as liability for debts, sale of your home or division of savings to more complex issues involving ownership of family businesses, third party property rights or assets held overseas.

It is important that you receive expert legal advice early particularly in the current economic climate. Our family law team has extensive experience of advising and assisting clients to achieve appropriate and fair financial settlements in all types of financial cases including those involving multi million pound assets.

Our aim is to provide clear and practical advice tailored to your needs. We also have an extensive network of trusted contacts, who can provide expert advice or opinions on associated matters including property surveys, pension reports or business valuations.

You can manage the extent of our advice and support to suit your particular circumstances and needs. For example you may have already reached a settlement and simply require our help to make it legally binding. You may only need to obtain a better understanding of legal issues before engaging in negotiations independently.  Alternatively you may require full representation at Court in contested financial proceedings or need help undertaking a full analysis of your family’s financial position so that we can then help you construct sensible and practical settlement proposals. Whatever your needs we can help.

The types of financial orders available on divorce include the following:-

• Spousal Maintenance
• Lump sum payments
• Property Adjustment Orders (sale or transfer of any kind of property)
• Pension Sharing or Attachment Orders.

Our family law team has many years of experience in dealing with all types of financial claims. Our advice will take into consideration the financial and other needs of you and your children, the length of your marriage, your current and future earning capacity and income needs and any contributions that you have made towards the marital assets. Whatever the complexity of your case we can help.

Pre- nuptial Agreement

A pre-nuptial agreement (also known as a pre-marital agreement) is a written agreement made by a couple who intend to get married. The aim of the agreement is to record what the parties intend to happen to both their existing and future assets in the event that their marriage should breakdown.

Although the divorce court is not automatically bound by the terms of such agreements the Supreme Court has recently said:-

“The Court should give effect to a nuptial agreement that is freely entered into by each party with a full appreciation of its implications unless there are prevailing circumstances which would make it unfair to hold the parties to their Agreement.”

Pre-nuptial agreements are therefore becoming increasingly popular. If you want to have a pre-nuptial agreement we can prepare this for you. To make sure that your agreement has the best chance of being upheld by a Court it is essential that you gain expert legal advice and act well in advance of your proposed marriage.